The government will amend company law so that shareholder votes on big businesses' prospective remuneration plans for executives will be binding - as opposed to the current system of advisory votes (which have the power to embarrass companies but not to compel them).
And its stubborn refusal to renegotiate a wildly profitable contract binding Newfoundland Canada's poorest but most endearing province to sell it power at 1960s prices well into the new millennium also cost it friends, even in Quebec.
In the UK, the government's best estimates are that new nuclear power stations will cut our emissions by four percent some time after 2020, yet our binding target is a 34 percent cut, by 2020.